Monday, January 13, 2014

Three Minutes as a Spy

Normanday #111: It’s not eavesdropping, it’s research.

Observe the people near you—at the movies or the mall, the park, a classroom…anywhere at all. Write for three minutes about what they say and do, what they look like, and possibly how they smell. Leave no detail unrecorded.

Email what you wrote to bigfootreads dot wernert at gmail dot com by the end of the day January 19 (put “Norman is Suave” in the subject line). I’ll post as many of my favorite entries as I want next Monday, but all entries will be entered in the raffle. Include your first name (or, even better, use a pen name) and age (unless you’re tortoise-old).

Here are the entries from last week when I asked you to write for three minutes about…

Dear Muffin: Everyone’s gone for the day, so I’m settling in with coffee and doughnuts, and will spend a little time catching up on E-mail and Twitter. I had to write and tell you: I had the weirdest dream last night. I dreamed I had thumbs. You know what else was strange about this dream? I LIKED it. I LIKED having thumbs. Not cat-thumbs, mind you. Real, actual human thumbs, poking right out of my paws. In the dream, I was able to do SO MUCH with them. For example , I could type e-mails like this one so much FASTER. I could twist open the doorknob super easy. I let myself out and wandered the yard, chasing butterflies to my heart’s content. Can you imagine the freedom, the joy, of being able to come and go as you please?

I used my thumbs to operate the television remote and watch the Cat Channel. They NEVER put the Cat Channel on here, can you believe it? Even though it was a dream, it sure was nice to be able to flip the channels around to what I wanted to watch for a change.

But the best part of the dream? I was able to open a can of food whenever I wanted! I just popped that sucker right open! I didn’t have to wait on anyone to feed me!

I woke up feeling sad that I don’t actually have thumbs. I know I’m perfect, but….I sure wouldn’t mind having a couple of thumbs to work with. It would make a lot of things easier.

—Mr. Whiskers

Tren Rewy Steb

She’s yelping. Her lip is twitching. She must be having a nightmare. I should wake her up, right? She’s probably dreaming about that giant Great Dane who lives down the street. Listen to her cry. That Great Dane scares her in real life. In her dreams, maybe the Great Dane has poisonous tentacles and three rows of sharp teeth, like a shark. I’ll just shake her a little to wake her up. Except now her tail is wagging. Maybe they’ve made friends. And they’re probably chasing that neighborhood squirrel that’s always teasing her from way up in the tree in the back yard. Mean squirrel. I should let her keep sleeping. In her dream, she can probably finally catch that squirrel.

When she wakes up, I wonder if she’ll know it was just a dream?

~

The Bribing Continues…

Don’t forget, every month this year I’ll give away a Normanday Creative Writer’s Hundred-Percent-Visible-Prize Bundle. For a chance to win, just send me three minutes of writing based on one of that month’s weekly writing prompts. You can enter once each week for the month to increase your chances of winning.

Winners can choose between a children’s or teen prize bundle. Adults are welcome to enter, too.

The winner will choose between:

Children’s Normanday Creative Writer’s

Hundred-Percent-Visible-Prize Bundle

Rory’s Story Cubes, Original

HOW WRITER’S WORK by Ralph Fletcher

Bigfoot Reads journal

Bigfoot Reads bookmarks

or

Teen’s Normanday Creative Writer’s

Hundred-Percent-Visible-Prize Bundle

Rory’s Story Cubes, Actions

SPILLING INK: A YOUNG WRITER’S HANDBOOK by Ellen Potter and Anne Mazer, will illustrations by Matt Phelan

Bigfoot Reads journal

Bigfoot Reads bookmarks

Winners under 13-years old will need to have a parent or guardian send me mailing information. I can only mail prizes within the continential United States. (I’m a half-invisible turtle on a budget.)

Review Policy

Unless otherwise noted, the books recommended on Bigfoot Reads are either checked out of a public library by one of the cryptids or purchased by Bigfoot.

The dream entries from Briar’s journal contain premonitions of books that will be published in the future. Briar’s dream self foresees the books’ summaries and knows which will likely appeal to each of her friends. Briar always wakes up before she can see whether her friends will enjoy the books.

Bigfoot Reads has a strict policy against recommending any book in which a dog dies.